You don’t look like you’re 20 anymore, and there’s nothing wrong about that because you are way better than when you were at 20: more confident, you’ve achieved more, you know yourself way better. But yes, your skin starts sagging a bit with menopause. But before considering a chirurgical intervention, there are plenty of softer solutions that can help you out.
Skin sagging during menopause is caused by quick collagen loss in this period- even 30% during first 5 years and 2% for the next 20 years. Yes, there a tough time coming at you but if we were you, we’d focus on the “next 20 years” part!
30% of collagen loss in the first 5 years of menopause.
Other consequences of collagen decrease on your skin
As collagen degrades, skin loses firmness, jowls and lines appear. You may notice that dynamic smile and frown lines become permanent, your nose tip drops, eye area hollows and pores become larger. Nice, right?
All these clinical changes in post-menopausal women are associated with cutaneous aging of all 3 layers of the face (epidermis, dermis and hypodermis). Atrophy, dryness and fat pads slackening are the main signs of this, not very funky, but absolutely normal process.
Atrophy corresponds to the massive reduction in the thickness of skin tissue. Everything that leads to this reduction can also alter communication and nutrient exchanges between the epidermis and the dermis, making it hard for your skin to keep its mechanical properties.
So you could also notice progressive degradation of the hyaluronic acid in the dermis, skin dryness and roughness due to decreased sebum secretion, loss of elasticity, decreased ability to maintain moisture, which may also lead to loss of firmness.
In conclusion, your face may look different, a little tired maybe and it can alter your self-confidence. So let’s prevent that or at least slow it down the best we can by:
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a.Giving up smoking and reducing alcohol intake
b.Choosing a proper daily skincare tailored for pre- and post-menopausal skin - regular sun protection with high SPF that is water resistant.
c.Adopting a healthy, well-balanced diet
d.Practicing regular exercises
Key elements to remember
The reason why the skin sag during menopause is mostly due to a very quick collagen loss that consequently provokes other changes.
Good news is, there are still plenty of things you can do about it such as:
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a.Adopting a skin-care routine that you can stick to on a daily-basis or
b.Switching to a well-balanced diet.
